Pneumatic elevator



(No Model.) 2 Shets-Sheet; 1!

J. LEWIS.

PNEUMATIC ELEVATOR.

N0. 287.033. Patented Oct. 23, 1883.

N PETERS. Phoio-Lilhograplnr. Wnmmqmm o c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH LEVIS, OF CHICAGO. ILLINOIS.

PNEUMATIC ELEVATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 287,033, dated October23, 1883.

f0 all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JosEPI-I LEwIs, a subject of the Queen of GreatBritain, residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in PneumaticElevators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a pneumatic apparatus for elevating grain andsimilar substances, and the same is an improvement upon the apparatuspatented to John and George Richards, in Letters Patent of the UnitedStates No. 143,254, dated September 30, 1873, rendering the apparatuspractical and automatic.

In the aceompanyin g drawings, which form a part of this specification,and in which similar letters of reference indicate like parts, Figure 1is a sectional side elevation of my improved apparatus. Fig. 2. is a topor plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross-section of thevalve, and Fig. 4 is a section 011 the line .4. at of Fig.

In said drawings, A A are two cylindrical chambers of considerable size,made of any suitable material, prefe ably metal, and strong enough tocontain and hold grain. At the top the chambers are covered by a casing,B, and each chamber at the bottom is provided with funnel-moutheddischarges O and C. A feasible method of construction is to make thecylinders of wrought or cast iron, and to cast the upper casing orhead-plate all in one piece, with grooves to receive the ends of thecylinders. The funnelmouthed discharges O O are also cast in one pieceand furnished with annular grooves to receive the lower ends of thecylinders. India-rubber gaskets (l are placed in the grooves of the twoparts above named, and the cylinders are then held together and to theupper and lower castings by bolt-rods D D.

E is an air chamber or hopper provided with the inletpipe E, leading tothe grain which is to be elevated, and provided also with aneduction-pipe, E, leading to an ex haust-pump or other air engine orfan, (not shown in the drawings,) which may be of any ordinaryconstruction. The vacuumhopper E opens at its lower extremity into avalvepresently to be describedso eon- Application filed June 11, 1883.(No model.)

trived as to direct the contents of the hopper into one or the other ofthe cylinders A A, accordingly as the valve is turned in one or theother direction. Each cylinder is closed at the bottom bya valve, F F,made to fit airtight against the bottom of the eylindendischarge bymeans of rubber-gasket bearing-surfaces f. The valves are pivoted at GG, are independent of each other, and each is provided with anadjustable counterbalance-weight, H H, affixed to the lever J J, whichweight in each case is sufii cient to return the valve promptly to itsseat after it has been opened and the contents of the cylinderdischarged.

The grain is drawn up from the car, vessel, or storage-tank into thevacuum-hopper E by the operation of the atmosphericpressure, and fallsinto one of the chambers or cylinders say into cylinder Athrough thevacuumhopper valve, which chamber is also at the same time exhausted ofits air by being in communication with the vacuum hopper. Vhen theWeight of the grain thus accumulated in the cylinder is suflieient toovercome the atmospheric pressure exerted from the outside against thedischarge-valve F, said valve is thereby opened and the grain falls intothe chute K, whence it is led to the point desired. The vacuunrhoppervalve must at this moment of discharge be reversed in order to directthe grain into the other cylinder. To accomplish this reversal of thehopper-valve automatically, I employ rods L L, connected to the levers JJ of the discharge-valves, which rods impart movement to levers M M,connected to the arms N N of the hoppervalve. The outer ends of thelevers M M are pivoted to sliding heads on m, and adjustable stops Z Zare fixed to the rods L L, so that the upward movement of one of saidrods will operate the hopper-valve, while at the same time said rod willbe free to fall when the dischargevalve closes by operation of thecounterbalance-weight, so that when either cylinder is dischargedautomatically by the weight of grain contained in it, the hopper-valvewill be reversed to the other cylinder, and at the same time thedischarge-valve of the cylinder just emptied will close automatically.The object of closing the discharge-valve as soon as its cylinder isdischarged is not only to valve-cylinder, and furnished at its outerface i with a spring compensating-plate, T, set out against the innersurface of the valve-cylinder by means of the coiled springs t. T T'-are disks connected to the valve and the shaft, and affording thebearing upon which the valve oscillates. In order that this valve maycertainly clear itself in case of grain lodging therein, I make itdiagonal in direction to the axis of the valve-cylinder, so that theouter edge of the valve, which is made sharp for this purpose, will cutthrough any grain which may lodge between it and the edge of the port orports. The diagonal position of the valve will cause it to operate witha shearing cut, and the weight of the grain, when accumulatedsuificiently to cause a discharge of one of the cylinders, will operatethe .valve with sulfieient force and power to cause it to cut its waythrough any obstacle which may by chance become wedged in the port.

In order to prevent any of the grain from entering the pipe E, whichleads to the airengine, I sometimes, and preferably, cover the openingof said pipe at its junction with the vacuum-l1opper with a wire-nettingapplied conveniently in the joint between said pipe and the hopper. Adisk of wire-gauze, of suitable fineness to permit the passage of theair, and yet stop the grain, is placed in said joint between a pair ofrubber gasket-rings and held, making an air-tight joint by the samemeans which secures the pipe to the chamber.

The cylinder A is shown'in the drawings as thoughjust dumped or emptied,the dischargevalve F having of course returned instantly to itsposition, ready to receive a new charge, and operating to close thechamber against the leakage of air. The dischargevalves F F,

when they are thrown open by the weight of grain in discharging, strikeagainst the bumper-beams V V, which act as stops to prevent an excess ofmotion in the rods L L and levers which operate the hopper-valve.

valve oscillating in said cylinder, and means valves-independent of eachother, the vacuum- 7o I am aware of the construction shown in Patent No.268,305, and disclaim, the same.

In several particulars said patent is different from my invention.

I claim i 7 1. The combination, with'the vacuum-hopper and the chambersA and A, of the valvecylinder P, interposed between said hopper and saidchambers, and provided with an inlet-port opening from the hopper and anoutlet-port opening into each of the chambers, the

for actuating said valve, substantially as speci- 1 fied.

2. The receiving-chambers, the dischargehopper, the vacuum -hoppervalve, and the connections between the hopper valve and each of thedischarge-valves, whereby the former valve is reversed at each operationof the latter, all combined and operating substantially as specified. p

3. In a vacuum grain-elevator, the i ndependent discharge-valvesarranged to automatically open under the weight of grain in thereceiving-chambers, and each provided with its own counter-balance, forautomatically closing it as soon as the grain has been discharged,substantially as specified.

- 4. The combination, with the hopper-valve and the discharge-valveprovided with a closingcounter-balance, of the connectionswhereby theformer is operated from the latter, such connections consisting of therod L, having a stop, Z, the lever M, having the head m, and arm N,substantially as specified.

5. In a vacuum-elevator of the kind specified, the oscillating valvehaving the valvediaphragm arranged diagonal to the edge of thevalve-ports, so as to produce a shearing out upon any grain or obstaclewhich may lodge in the valve, substantially as specified.

6. The construction of the two cylinders A A, made plain and independentof each other, and placed between upper and lower plates, each of saidplates having grooves cast therein to receive the ends of both thecylinders, and furnished with rubber packing-rings, so that the wholemay be held together air-tight by bolt-rods, substantially as specified.

JOSEPH LEWVIS.

\Vitnesses:

T. EVERETT BROWN, H. M. MUNDAY.

